Tazria

The Zohar on Tazria raises the question about determining one’s destiny – is it decided from above or perhaps we are responsible for it? And what is the connection between our destiny and “…A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth…”? And even more, what is the connection between “impurity and purity” that our Parasha deals with, to our destiny?

The Zohar explains that there are two systems of energy in the world that is beyond the senses – impurity and purity.

“Pure” means clean, stainless, and according to Kabbalah when something is pure it means that the Creator’s light can easily go through it, as opposed to something “impure” (טמא in Hebrew, which is also the letters of אטוּם – sealed) that the light will go through partially or not at all.

The Zohar teaches that initially everything was created pure. The beginning of everything is the purpose of The Creation – to share bliss and fulfillment with all creatures. However, after the Light had been given limitless, the will to be creators has been aroused in us, the creatures, as well. Then, limitation had been created, a dark place that enabled us to feel creators as we manage to create Light on our own. A new system was created – the Impure System – the system through which Light does not go through.

The two systems have been mixed with each other in our world, so our purpose is to choose between them. How? Rav Ashlag explains that everything is based on our ‘desire to receive’ which motivates us to take an action. However, there are two kinds of “desire”: the one that derives from the Impure System and the one from the Pure System. The first one is connected to limitation and chaos, while the second one to infinity. When we desire something only for ourselves we become “an end”, a black hole that draws everything into itself – this is when we are connected to the Impure System. The Pure System is the opposite. It is a connection to the Creator, to infinity. This is the Desire to Receive in Order to Give. This kind of a desire creates continuity, flow and a connection to the endlessly expanding Light of the Creator.

The quality of thoughts depends on the will. When our will is pure then our thoughts will be pure as well and then our actions will be pure and connected to the Creator’s Light, and vice versa. Therefore, “…A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son…” implies that already at the moment of conceiving an idea we could know how it will end – will it be “male” or “female” (there are two powers in our world: male and female. “male” is a sharing and giving power, and “female” is a receiving power). If the parents’ thoughts are loving and pure than she will give birth to a son and it will be expressed in his actions.

That is why purity and impurity are not a religious issue but a matter of awareness, consciousness. According to our thoughts and actions the Creator plants our life story. We have a free will to decide which way we want to walk through, what kind of thought we would like to have – pure or impure, and every path we choose has its “story”. Eventually we will reach the same destination but the path we choose is the difference.